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Peculiar flavor-enhancing wicking trick

Debonair_vapologist

Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
Hi everyone! Warm greetings from Russia. I've been a read-only user here for quite a while, but finally I plucked up enough courage to post something :D. Hope my English is not a disgrace.
Well, anyhow, I was going to share a great wicking trick I have witnessed in a local vapeshop in Moscow. Moreover I was quite surprised when I couldn't find even a single mention of it on English vape forums. So I hope it will turn out to be helpful for those looking down on pubescent youngsters "chucking clouds", if you get my drift, hehe.
A short back story. I am sure that common sense tells every vaper not to wick your device with dirty hands or else one would have to vape some nasty things. That is why the first few hits on a fresh wick taste disgusting, by the way. I personally was always concerned about cotton contamination, but couldn't completely avoid it. For instance, my palms would get sweaty after a tough round of coil installing or hot spot struggle :)
And fortunately I have finally found a solution. I have discovered "cotton burning" or "cotton dry-firing", so to say.
The procedure is straight and simple.
1) Install your coils as you usually would and wick your device
2) Generously juice your wick ( I highly recommend the "coil pulsing" juicing technique)
3) Now you will need a small piece of equipment - a regular lighter. Have it prepared in advance :)
4) And here comes the main trick. Take your mod, press and hold the fire button and let the coils heat up if necessary. When they start shooting out juice drops light up the wick with the lighter (do not release the fire button, keep it doing its thing) and start waving your mod back and forth as if you are at a pop concert but a bit more actively :) Burn your wick for 1-3 seconds and than blow it out. Burning time depends on your coil diameter and PG/VG ratio. Judging from my experience the higher your diameter and the higher your VG percentage is the longer you have to burn the wick. If you are scared of over-burning you may do multiple short burning sessions :) For example, my current setup is Mutation X V5 RDA sitting on a custom made double 18650 series boxmod. I have on dual fused Clapton coils, 28 gauge SS 316L /38 gauge Ni80, 3.0 mm diameter, 8 wraps each. My sweet spot is exactly 3 seconds. And trust me - results are phenomenal. I used to suffer those horrible first hits that tasted like rotten socks. But now I get the full-on flavor right from the first hit.
I am not a scientist but I will give a brief explanation for those who might be confused by my post. Technically, this procedure is aimed at burning all excessive VG from your wick. The cotton catches fire only when VG is gone. And glycerine while evaporating also evaporates all those traces that forensic experts are usually looking for :)

Basically that is all I have to say. I can provide photo-guide if necessary. My explanation might seem a bit vague, I know. Hope this helps and I'd be happy to receive your opinion on this trick :)

Farewell!
 

Debonair_vapologist

Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
I just use sterile non-latex gloves, but interesting idea. Oh and your English is better that a whole lot of Natives!
Thanks, mate! Glad to hear it :)
Gloves are the most obvious solution, I totally agree. But I have also noticed that burning enhances the wicking properties of your cotton a little bit. Makes it more spongy .
 

CJ

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Welcome to VU and interesting first post indeed!
 

pulsevape

Diamond Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I gotta trick like that....put the cotton in your coils wet the wicks pulse it till it spir juice then take a blow torch and burn that cottong to a crisp...thow it out and build a ss mesh wick...lol
 

MrScaryZ

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Platinum Contributor
Member For 5 Years
I gotta trick like that....put the cotton in your coils wet the wicks pulse it till it spir juice then take a blow torch and burn that cottong to a crisp...thow it out and build a ss mesh wick...lol
are we vaping or attending a Black Sabbath concert haha
 

Debonair_vapologist

Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
what is the point of lighting it on fire?
As I have already said, I'm not aware of exact chemistry behind the process. I recommend this method mostly judging from my personal empirical evidence. It is not some April Fools' Day stuff :)
Seriously, folks, if only you tried doing it once you would sense how a wave of tantalizing aroma of your e-juice wafts towards you when the fire is blown out.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
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what is the point of lighting it on fire?
i remember we used to do that back in the days when sampling juices on an RDA and we didn't want to waste battery burning them off to try a new flavor. So we'd just light the cotton on fire and it would burn off the juice so we could try a new flavor
 

MrScaryZ

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i remember we used to do that back in the days when sampling juices on an RDA and we didn't want to waste battery burning them off to try a new flavor. So we'd just light the cotton on fire and it would burn off the juice so we could try a new flavor
The Op stated that this increases the wicking ability of cotton this was not related to changing flavors.
 

Debonair_vapologist

Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
The Op stated that this increases the wicking ability of cotton this was not related to changing flavors.
I have to admit that this was based on personal experience and I as they usually say in commercials personal user experience may vary :) And I also have to mention that this increase in sponginess is more of a side effect, because as the thread title says cotton torching proved to be an effective way of cleaning your wick after installation in the first place.
 

MrScaryZ

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I did this yesterday and only see that I wasted a ml of juice by burning it
 

Ryedan

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Ya .. I think I'll pass on this one
yes3.gif
 

SignMan

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
This is interesting. Does the cotton actually catch on fire? Ive did that on accident running my wicks dry on my noisy cricket. You fire that baby up with dry wicks and you for sure get flaming cotton lol
 

Zohmbiebuilds

Silver Contributor
Member For 3 Years
It's supposed to break your wick in, but it's just some retard parlor trick that makes you look like a god damn hipster.

Lol. I'm cool. If you use rayon you don't ever have to worry about break in. I'm using the last bit of cotton bacon and making the switch myself. If you squonk you only have faster wicking, more juice per cm.



Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk
 

PoppaVic

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I would wonder if this burns off any "wild-hairs" as well as wicking out any nonsense chemicals.

Other than that, no biggy.
 

Arthur-VU

Silver Contributor
Member For 2 Years
I ALWAYS wash my hands well before wicking/re-wicking. So I do not worry about this.

However, I saw this done recently in a local vape shop, and I thought the guy was nuts. He told me they do it all the time.

He then told me that if I was still doing the Scottish Roll technique that I needed to 'get with the times'.

Oh well, to each his own.
 

Droogbc

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
The guy in my local vape shop does this as well, though I didn't ask why.

I do something similar, but not quite as extreme. Once wicked, juiced, and fired a couple of times, I'll spark up the lighter and quickly apply flame to the wicks. It vaporizes any little cotton/rayon hairs that may be poking out so I'm left with nothing but juicy wick. Less chance of those errant fibers drying out and burning later on, potentially effecting taste.
 

Bigrick

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
ECF Refugee
Hi everyone! Warm greetings from Russia. I've been a read-only user here for quite a while, but finally I plucked up enough courage to post something :D. Hope my English is not a disgrace.
Well, anyhow, I was going to share a great wicking trick I have witnessed in a local vapeshop in Moscow. Moreover I was quite surprised when I couldn't find even a single mention of it on English vape forums. So I hope it will turn out to be helpful for those looking down on pubescent youngsters "chucking clouds", if you get my drift, hehe.
A short back story. I am sure that common sense tells every vaper not to wick your device with dirty hands or else one would have to vape some nasty things. That is why the first few hits on a fresh wick taste disgusting, by the way. I personally was always concerned about cotton contamination, but couldn't completely avoid it. For instance, my palms would get sweaty after a tough round of coil installing or hot spot struggle :)
And fortunately I have finally found a solution. I have discovered "cotton burning" or "cotton dry-firing", so to say.
The procedure is straight and simple.
1) Install your coils as you usually would and wick your device
2) Generously juice your wick ( I highly recommend the "coil pulsing" juicing technique)
3) Now you will need a small piece of equipment - a regular lighter. Have it prepared in advance :)
4) And here comes the main trick. Take your mod, press and hold the fire button and let the coils heat up if necessary. When they start shooting out juice drops light up the wick with the lighter (do not release the fire button, keep it doing its thing) and start waving your mod back and forth as if you are at a pop concert but a bit more actively :) Burn your wick for 1-3 seconds and than blow it out. Burning time depends on your coil diameter and PG/VG ratio. Judging from my experience the higher your diameter and the higher your VG percentage is the longer you have to burn the wick. If you are scared of over-burning you may do multiple short burning sessions :) For example, my current setup is Mutation X V5 RDA sitting on a custom made double 18650 series boxmod. I have on dual fused Clapton coils, 28 gauge SS 316L /38 gauge Ni80, 3.0 mm diameter, 8 wraps each. My sweet spot is exactly 3 seconds. And trust me - results are phenomenal. I used to suffer those horrible first hits that tasted like rotten socks. But now I get the full-on flavor right from the first hit.
I am not a scientist but I will give a brief explanation for those who might be confused by my post. Technically, this procedure is aimed at burning all excessive VG from your wick. The cotton catches fire only when VG is gone. And glycerine while evaporating also evaporates all those traces that forensic experts are usually looking for :)

Basically that is all I have to say. I can provide photo-guide if necessary. My explanation might seem a bit vague, I know. Hope this helps and I'd be happy to receive your opinion on this trick :)

Farewell!
My buddy at my trusted b&m does that. Your post is only the second time I have heard about it. My buddy calls it "The Cincinnati Burn". Googling now.
 

Rooster Cogburn

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If you use rayon you avoid getting the old sock flavor from the jump. Rayon does not give me any nasty flavors and is broke in instantly. I do fire and juice a little after wicking just to make sure all is working well before capping but rayon is cheap and good to go. No fire necessary
 

Bigrick

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
ECF Refugee
If you use rayon you avoid getting the old sock flavor from the jump. Rayon does not give me any nasty flavors and is broke in instantly. I do fire and juice a little after wicking just to make sure all is working well before capping but rayon is cheap and good to go. No fire necessary
but you have to buy like a butt load of it at Sallys. Unless you know of another option?
 

Droogbc

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
but you have to buy like a butt load of it at Sallys. Unless you know of another option?
At one time my local grocery store sold bags of rayon beauty balls along side of the cotton balls. That bag lasted years but is running low and unfortunately the store no longer carries them. Shame, as they were cheap as dirt and made for absolutely awesome wicking.

I was able to find similar ones online, and they can even be had as sterile if you're so inclined, not that I've bought any more as of yet.

http://www.deroyal.com/medicalprodu...product.aspx?id=ac-surgical-sterilerayonballs
 

Rooster Cogburn

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Hoggy

Member For 3 Years
but you have to buy like a butt load of it at Sallys. Unless you know of another option?

Outside of that 40-ft length (which btw, could be the same one in my sig for this site).. Why not just splurge and get the bigger box of 500ft for ~$15? I actually spent the big bucks for 3lbs at $20 (900ft IIRC). :) Depending on the juices you might use/make, I often find the coil gets gunked long before the rayon might be spent. So you might go through it a bit quicker than you might think at first. And especially the bigger boxes will last you possibly for the rest of your vaping life. You could also be more free to PIF some as well.

Of course, I could understand where you might just want to try some out at first. But as long as you can get past the lack of the sock taste (I'm not going to say dirty sock, mind you - just sock), you won't ever want to go back. ;)

Another thing to be aware of is that, like cotton I assume, it will absorb nearby aromas/odors. So the best you can control where you get it, the better. I was very fortunate that the big box of Sally's I got wasn't next to anything odiferous (bought before I knew about this fact). You also want to make sure it's 100% rayon - and without any kind of 'outer layer', although I think the ones with an outer layer are the cotton-rayon blends. The outer layer would be akin to the outer layer of the KGD cotton pads, which many people don't want to use.
 

Izanagi7

Bronze Contributor
Member For 1 Year
This is certainly the most Russian vape hack I’ve come across so far. Picturing a techno industrial vape bar in an ice hotel as a bartender with a flared moustache in a white shirt, black and charcoal grey striped vest and burgundy bow tie flambés a wick as patrons sip vodka. Trance music plays in the background. There are two guards at the door dressed in black suits carrying P90s. A vape bar reserved for the most serious of vapers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

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